Simulated ammunition for military and law enforcement training

ABSTRACT

An improved method of propelling a paintball, which is housed in a cartridge using an explosive force to propel the paintball forward, exiting the bore of the training firearm. The only thing to exit the bore of the training device will be the paintball. This new method of propelling a paintball will enable more realistic training firearms to be developed in order to provide Military and Law Enforcement agencies with the most realistic training possible. The present invention will consist of propelling non-lethal ammunition through a retrofitted firearm, or a specially manufactured firearm, which will only fire the present invention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention is intended to improve training for Law Enforcement and Military personnel around the world by retrofitting existing firearms, or developing new firearms identical to real firearms that will only fire the present invention and cannot be converted to fire a lethal round. Markers (or more commonly referred to as paintball guns) have been around since the early 1980's. Paintball guns are currently being used to make training more realistic for Military and Law Enforcement agencies. The problem with the current markers, are that they do not resemble a real firearm in operation, weight, design, handling, and all other aspects of a real firearm. The need to discharge a non-lethal projectile as a training aid from a real firearm or a replica thereof, is long awaited by Military and Law Enforcement agencies around the globe. In the training exercises the officer or soldier is going to perform the operation of the training device countless times. They are going to be accustomed to the operation of the training device and in a life-threatening situation and will be attempting to execute the operation of a paintball gun and not a real firearm because of the repetitive motions with they performed with a paintball gun. Simply put, individuals will react the way that they have been trained. If they have been trained with a weapon that is not anything like the real firearm that they use, then they will try and execute the steps in firing the training device and not the ‘issued’ firearm. The potential outcome of the execution of the wrong device (firearm) could be fatal for the law enforcement agent or soldier.

[0003] Problems with current markers are that the size (or caliber) of paintballs being used hinders the development of realistic training aids. In order to be able to develop a training device such as an automatic pistol, the training device needs to not only look, feel, sound and operate like a real firearm, but it also needs to be able to hold as many rounds in a clip as the real firearm. For example, if we use a firearm that holds 15 9 mm rounds in a clip, with the current size of the paintballs, only about 3 or 4 could be put in a clip. And, the overall size of the training device would probably be significantly larger than the real firearm in order to facilitate the larger caliber paint capsule. However, with the present invention, any size of paintball can be specially manufactured in order to develop any caliber of pistol, rifle, submachine gun, machinegun, or shotgun. Due to the nature of how the present invention works, the present invention could be made in even larger calibers to be fired out of mortar launchers, and even tanks for more realistic war games.

[0004] The reason that the size of the paint capsule hinders the development of realistic training devices is because Another problem is that the gases used to propel the paintball expand and contract therefore causing the paintball to be inconsistent in speeds that may endanger the participants of the training exercise. The current safety margin for training with markers is that the paintball doesn't exceed 300 feet per second. Protective gear such as masks are designed to withstand a direct hit of no more than 330 feet per second. The present invention will not allow the velocity of the paintball to be adjusted by the participant as it currently can be done with gas operated markers.

[0005] The present invention can be made in various calibers which will enable realistic training devices

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] The present invention overcomes the deficiencies of the training aids currently being used, which use propellants such as CO2, Nitrogen, or compressed air. In addition, size of the paintballs being mass produced prevent retrofitting a real firearm, or ‘cloning’ a real firearm and making the necessary modifications during the manufacturing process that will not allow the training device to fire a lethal round. The present invention utilizes a propulsion method similar to that of a real firearm. However, the only thing to exit the bore of the marker of which the invention is fired through is the paintball (or paint capsule).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007]FIG. 1 is an external side view of the paintball cartridge.

[0008]FIG. 2 is an internal side view of the paintball cartridge components.

[0009]FIG. 3 is a front view of the projector showing the groove feelers and the ball detent groove.

[0010]FIG. 4 is a front view of the opening of the cartridge without the front wall. The purpose of this drawing is to illustrate the grooves that the projectors groove feelers reside, and the ball detent.

[0011]FIG. 5 is a front view of the opening of the cartridge with the grooves hidden, and the ball detent exposed.

[0012]FIG. 6 is an internal side view with the projector in the forward position after the paintball has exited.

[0013]FIG. 7 is an external rear view of the cartridge.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0014]FIG. 1 is an external side view of the cartridge 2. The cartridge 2 houses all of the working components of the present invention. This figure also displays the extraction groove bevel 15, extraction groove 17, ejection rim 16, and the mouth 24 of the cartridge.

[0015]FIG. 2 is an internal side view of the paintball cartridge revealing all of the components. When the primer 18 is struck by the firing pin of the marker it ignites the charge 14. The force generated by the gases of the ‘explosion’ from the charge pushes the projector 10 forward. The projector 10 has groove feelers 12 which ride in grooves 8 which reside on the inner wall 6 of the cartridge 2. As the projector moves towards the opening 24 of the cartridge 2, it pushes the paintball 20 forward applying enough pressure on the ball detent 22 to allow the paint capsule 20 to move past the ball detent 22. The ball detent groove 23 (shown in FIG. 3) in the projector 10 allows the projector 10 to move forward and not make contact with the ball detent 22. When the projector 10 reaches the end of the grooves 8, the projector 10 stops due to the cartridge lip 4 (The lip 4 is created only because of the grooves 8. The lip 4 is not a rise in the surface of the cartridge 2). As the projector 10 comes to rest when it reaches the lip 4, the only thing to exit the cartridge 2 is the paintball 20. The cartridge 2 is ejected from the marker (not shown) when the ejector pin (not shown) of the marker grips the ejection rim 16 and discards the cartridge 2 from the marker. The method of the cartridge 2 being ejected from the marker is based upon the ejection process of a shell being ejected from a semiautomatic firearm.

[0016]FIG. 3 is a front view of the projector 10, groove feelers 12, and the ball detent groove 23.

[0017]FIG. 4 is a front view of the opening 24 of the cartridge with the grooves 8 exposed. The ball detent 22 is also visible.

[0018]FIG. 5 is a front view of the opening 24 of the cartridge 2 with the grooves 8 hidden by the front cartridge wall 7. The ball detent 22 is also visible.

[0019]FIG. 6 is an internal side view of the cartridge 2 with the projector 10 in the forward position after the paint capsule 20 has exited the mouth 24 of the cartridge 2. The ball detent 22 is still seated in the position that it was when it was retaining the paintball 20.

[0020]FIG. 7 is an external rear view of the cartridge 2. This displays the primer 18 and the backside of the ejection rim 16. 

I claim:
 1. To provide a realistic training aid for Military and Law Enforcement agencies around the world. 